College student leads 'nap-ins' to inspire 'dreams of diversity'

After reading stories like this, I almost wish I were back in college – not so much because I would have learned anything, but because there were a few of us back in the day who gloried in wreaking havoc on the numerous well-meaning but idiotic "strikes for peace," "bake sales for peace," "die-ins," and anything else that smacked of self-important activism.

A student at Southern Illinois University came up with a scathingly brilliant idea: why not promote "nap-ins" in order to inspire students to have "dreams of diversity"?

Why? An art student, Marissa Amposta, who came up with the idea, says sagely, "All dreams start while sleeping."

Amposta is facilitating four, two-hour sleep sessions in March for Women's History Month, setting up a safe space in the rotunda of Morris Library. She said the sessions are meant to "internally generate student dreams of diversity."

The nap-ins are part of the Dreaming Diversity Art Installation established Monday, the Daily Egyptian reported. The installation is a 15-foot-long fabric scroll hanging in the middle of the library rotunda, where students will write their dreams on pieces of fabric and paper. Amposta also said that a "labyrinth" will be set up in the rotunda, surrounding the scroll, "to help guide students to their dreams."

"The maze is sort of a metaphor for the general path to diversity," the student coordinator explained. "It takes a while to reach, and its complicated." If the entire project relies on individual dreams scribbled by 18- to 22-year-old students just awoken from a social justice slumber in the name of vague "diversity," the path will be winding indeed. But students should watch their step lest they tread on sleeping comrades.

These dreams will be discussed at a women's panel on March 31, hosted by two of the school's departments: art and women, gender, and sexuality studies.

"People forget we are still working for equality," Nicole Tabor, graduate assistant coordinator at the Women's Resource Center, told the Daily Egyptian. "It might never happen if we stop fighting." By fighting, does she mean sleeping?

That no one has come up with innovative and humorous ways to poke fun at this idiocy speaks volumes about the oppressive atmosphere on college campuses today. I'm sure my friends and I would have found several creative avenues to enrage the activists, like taking part in the nap-ins and snoring loudly during the two hours of "sleep." Or reporting a graphically sexual "dream of diversity."

These harmless counter-protests would make their point. You have to believe that a majority of kids cast a baleful eye on this kind of nonsense. They can't all be snowflakes. Showing up the activists would encourage the majority to make their feelings known.

Not all dreams start while we're asleep. Most worthwhile dreams come to us while we're wide awake and inspired by people and events around us. But perhaps something as ephemeral as "diversity" can be glimpsed only while asleep.

It's not real enough to see it while we're awake.

After reading stories like this, I almost wish I were back in college – not so much because I would have learned anything, but because there were a few of us back in the day who gloried in wreaking havoc on the numerous well-meaning but idiotic "strikes for peace," "bake sales for peace," "die-ins," and anything else that smacked of self-important activism.

A student at Southern Illinois University came up with a scathingly brilliant idea: why not promote "nap-ins" in order to inspire students to have "dreams of diversity"?

Why? An art student, Marissa Amposta, who came up with the idea, says sagely, "All dreams start while sleeping."

Amposta is facilitating four, two-hour sleep sessions in March for Women's History Month, setting up a safe space in the rotunda of Morris Library. She said the sessions are meant to "internally generate student dreams of diversity."

The nap-ins are part of the Dreaming Diversity Art Installation established Monday, the Daily Egyptian reported. The installation is a 15-foot-long fabric scroll hanging in the middle of the library rotunda, where students will write their dreams on pieces of fabric and paper. Amposta also said that a "labyrinth" will be set up in the rotunda, surrounding the scroll, "to help guide students to their dreams."

"The maze is sort of a metaphor for the general path to diversity," the student coordinator explained. "It takes a while to reach, and its complicated." If the entire project relies on individual dreams scribbled by 18- to 22-year-old students just awoken from a social justice slumber in the name of vague "diversity," the path will be winding indeed. But students should watch their step lest they tread on sleeping comrades.

These dreams will be discussed at a women's panel on March 31, hosted by two of the school's departments: art and women, gender, and sexuality studies.

"People forget we are still working for equality," Nicole Tabor, graduate assistant coordinator at the Women's Resource Center, told the Daily Egyptian. "It might never happen if we stop fighting." By fighting, does she mean sleeping?

That no one has come up with innovative and humorous ways to poke fun at this idiocy speaks volumes about the oppressive atmosphere on college campuses today. I'm sure my friends and I would have found several creative avenues to enrage the activists, like taking part in the nap-ins and snoring loudly during the two hours of "sleep." Or reporting a graphically sexual "dream of diversity."

These harmless counter-protests would make their point. You have to believe that a majority of kids cast a baleful eye on this kind of nonsense. They can't all be snowflakes. Showing up the activists would encourage the majority to make their feelings known.

Not all dreams start while we're asleep. Most worthwhile dreams come to us while we're wide awake and inspired by people and events around us. But perhaps something as ephemeral as "diversity" can be glimpsed only while asleep.